Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The magnificent city gate of the capital was slowly opened.
Ten horses galloped through the magnificent gate.
Once inside, the horsemen smelled the strong stench of blood.
Jiang Li was on one of the horses. Riding on horseback, with the horse’s mane blowing in the wind, he saw a world full of dead bodies. The ground was littered with corpses and arrows.
The city tower was also covered with the dead bodies of the soldiers, lying in all kinds of postures. Blood continued flowing down the cracks in the walls. Judging from their uniforms, they should be the guards of the capital city.
“What happened?”
An envoy was trembling. What he saw completely shocked him to the core.
“Did the North County Army or the West County Army attack the capital city?”
Another envoy swallowed his saliva.
Jiang Li pulled the reins of his horse, who was also disturbed by the strong stench of blood.
“Young Master Lu from Beiluo…”
A strange light flashed in Jiang Li’s eyes.
Young Master from Beiluo Lu sent people here?
******
The Book Pavilion.
It was as cozy and as quiet as always.
Mo Tianyu was sitting at the door of the Book Pavilion, studying hexagrams while drinking alcohol from a giant calabash.
Since he had been pulled out by the Imperial Advisor in Beiluo City, Mo Tianyu had gained some insight. He was more mature.
He was no longer that unbridled Mo the Lunatic living a dissipated life in the capital city.
He realized if he wanted to be proud, he would need to have great strength first. If he were as strong as Lu Fan, then he could be as proud as he wanted to be. Who would have the nerve to stop him?
As to fortune-telling… He had not given that up yet.
This was after all what he loved to do. He had been studying hexagrams even before he became a student of his master. Naturally, he would not give it up so easily.
Even though his hexagram readings were often wrong, he still refused to give it up.
He would never regret that he had started hexagram reading.
In the pavilion…
The sound of footsteps grew closer. Mo Tianyu was surprised when he saw his master, who had been living in seclusion for a few days, hunched over, his hands behind his back, and looking into the distance upstairs.
Kong Nanfei, dressed like a Confucian student, walked from behind the master. He looked into the distance as well.
“Coming events cast their shadows before them.”
“Have you felt it? The wind in the capital city is changing…” the Imperial Advisor said slowly.
Kong Nanfei nodded. “Lu Ping’an’s maids and coachman came to the capital city with 500 armored horsemen.”
“What Lu Ping’an is up to is simple. He intends to clear up the corrupt aristocratic families in the capital city the way he did to those in Beiluo City.”
“However, although the aristocratic families in the capital city are not as powerful as those in the South County and North County, they are extremely close to many of the ministers. A slight move in one part could affect the situation as a whole. Consequently, it will be very difficult to clear them up.”
The master smiled, his white hair blowing in the wind.
“Some people believe that in times of chaos, hard measures must be implemented, but I don’t agree. After all, hard measures will break the order of society, which is not good for the country or the people.”
“That being said… The current Great Zhou has nothing to lose anymore. How bad could it be?” the Imperial Advisor said.
Kong Nanfei was shocked.
“Lu Ping’an is seeing things really clearly…,” the Imperial Advisor exclaimed.
******
Zijin Palace, capital city.
Excitement showed in Yuwen Xiu’s eyes when he finished reading the secret letter he was holding in his hands.
“Do what we don’t have the nerve to do…”
“Lu Ping’an is amazing.”
Yuwen Xiu crumpled up the secret letter.
“That’s fantastic! Kill all of them!”
“How dare these people recruit soldiers on their own! They are even getting involved in military leadership in the capital city. Are they going to conspire against the court?!”
“Once a mutiny breaks out in the capital city, Great Zhou will be completely doomed.”
“How horrible!”
Yuwen Xiu’s face was extremely cold as he pound his fist on the desk.
He felt he was not respected the way an emperor should be respected at all.
None of the civil or military officials could be trusted. They were all just some wheeler-dealers.
The old eunuch, also showing a cold face, stood next to the emperor.
He could hardly believe Prime Minister Zhao Kuo, who had never been bold—as if he was already on his deathbed—had been scheming in the dark.
“What a pity. Lu Ping’an couldn’t leave Beiluo to help us in court. If Lu Ping’an could help us, then Great Zhou would absolutely unify the world.”
Yuwen Xiu let out a sigh.
The old eunuch shook his head at Yuwen Xiu’s sigh.
This time, if it were not for He Shou’s hateful denunciation, Young Master Lu from Beiluo would not have even sent people to the capital city.
People like him would in no way take a back seat to serve as a minister.
Even if Lu Fan was willing to do that, the emperor might not have the nerve to take him.
******
Wangxiang Tower.
He Shou was extremely pale while looking at the servant who was heavily gasping for air.
“Lord, the armored horsemen had already laid siege to Wangxiang Tower. We… We won’t be able to walk out of here!” the servant said while kneeling on the ground, with his forehead covered with cold sweat.
“Go!”
He Shou turned pale, while the other ministers were also terrified, so they hurried to go downstairs.
However, when they heard clacking sounds of trotting horses outside of Wangxiang Tower, they were too afraid to go out through the front door. Instead, they chose to leave through the side door.
“Those scoundrels from Beiluo are cruel and heartless. We should go to the prime minister’s residence immediately to discuss this with the prime minister!” He Shou said right away.
He even felt it was not safe to leave in his current clothing, so he exchanged clothes with a servant and slipped out of the side door.
However…
As soon as he went through the side door, he found Beiluo’s armored horsemen in his way.
He Shou was so scared that he was completely pale. The ministers around him were also trembling. They immediately tried to turn around to leave, but the clippity-clop of horses trotting grew closer. Suddenly, a knife, with blood still dripping from it, appeared in front of them.
“Which of you is He Shou?” Luo Cheng asked with a cold look, holding the knife.
In the distance, Nie Changqing drove the coach inside.
“You scholars just love to be unique. You ambushed us, and you really enjoyed watching it. Are you also going to write a poem to your heart’s content?” Nie Changqing, in white clothes, said flatly, driving the coach closer.
Nie Changqing glanced over at the people who were stuck inside Wangxiang Tower. As experienced as he was, he certainly saw the difference between them.
Although He Shou and some other ministers were in coarse clothes, they did not look like servants at all. It was easy to spot them at one glance.
He Shou terribly regretted his decision.
He was completely terrified by the skills of Ning Zhao, Nie Changqing, and the others. Even thousands of arrows could not get close to them… Were they still the martial arts practitioners that he knew about?
Martial arts practitioners, even grandmasters, would not be able to fight off thousands of soldiers or arrows.
He mobilized 3,000 elite soldiers from the prime minister to conduct this ambush. He intended to kill the coachman and the maids of Young Master Lu from Beiluo to take the latter down a peg or two.
There was no way he could have anticipated such a result.
Thousands of arrows froze in the air and then fell on the ground altogether.
A butcher knife, controlled from far away, easily decapitated the soldiers, killing them like rats…
All of these made He Shou panic.
Carrying his butcher knife, Nie Changqing slowly approached him, his white clothes fluttering in the wind.
“Which one is He Shou? You tell me which one he is, and you get to live,” Nie Changqing said.
The ministers, who were wearing servants’ coarse clothes at the moment, all hated He Shou to the core because it was he who invited them here to watch the ambush.
So they scrambled to point He Shou out to Nie Changqing without hesitation.
He Shou was as pale as a sheet of paper yet extremely angry.
Luo Cheng widely opened his eyes. Unsheathing his knife from the waist intending to slit He Shou’s throat, he angrily asked, “You wrote that b*****it denunciation?”
“Who the hell are you? How dare you humiliate Young Master?!”
A long knife whizzed through the air, giving off threatening energy.
He Shou turned deathly pale.
He regretted his every decision. Why the hell did he come to Wangxiang Tower?!
“Hold up.”
However, Nie Changqing stopped Luo Cheng.
“It will be too easy a death for him. Let him see with his own eyes what that denunciation has brought the capital city…,” Nie Changqing said.
“You can go.”
Then, Nie Changqing pointed to the minister, who was the first to point out He Shou.
That minister was so happy that he burst into tears. He left in haste, rolling and crawling.
Watching him leave in such a disgraceful manner, Nie Changqing let out a sigh.
Such was the Great Zhou Dynasty’s ministers, all with no guts. No wonder the capital city was in such chaos.
“The others, kill all of them,” Nie Changqing said indifferently.
As soon as the order was given, Luo Cheng’s subordinates unsheathed their knives one after another.
The ministers who had come to watch the ambush were killed one by one.
He Shou collapsed to the ground and breathed in a stench. When the blood of a minister near him splashed onto his face, he pissed his pants.
In the carriage, behind the curtain…
Ning Zhao’s voice came. “Ministers caught in Beiluo City told us everything about the aristocratic families in the capital city. We’ll do this little by little.”
Nie Changqing jumped onto the coach and drove it away.
Luo Cheng squinted at He Shou. Lifting the latter with one hand, he got back on the horse. The 500 armored horsemen left Wangxiang Tower in an imposing manner.
When the 500 armored horsemen marched through the long street in the capital city, people all watched them in silence on both sides of the street. They were too afraid to make any noise.
The Qians were one of the aristocratic families in the capital city. The lord of the Qians was a minister of the Great Zhou Dynasty, a loyal supporter of Prime Minister Zhao Kuo.
The 500 armored horsemen marched toward Qian Mansion.
Once there, they immediately broke into the mansion.
Without any obligatory courtesy, Nie Changqing brandished the butcher knife only twice and then killed the Qians’ guards who rushed toward him.
Luo Cheng led the 500 armored horsemen into the mansion. They gathered everyone who was in the Qian Mansion, except women, old people, and kids.
The lord of the Qians knelt down on the ground, crying.
“Scoundrels from Beiluo! You… How dare you lynch the Qians! How dare you?!”
Behind the curtain of the carriage…
A plain voice came.
“Not only have the Qians submitted thirteen statutes to impeach Beiluo’s Young Master, but also they have copied the denunciation and spread rumors, let alone recruit soldiers in private and took bribes. What the Qians did is heinous…”
“Kill.”
The order was given.
As soon as Luo Cheng gave the order, the armored horsemen from Beiluo all wielded their knives.
Blood splattered everywhere.
He Shou, who was carried by Luo Cheng, witnessed this with his own eyes. He turned even paler.
He thought this was the end, but ultimately, he found the Qians’ eradication was only the start.
Next.
The carriage, with Beiluo’s 500 armored horsemen marching beside it, unhurriedly drove into every aristocratic family’s mansion in the capital city.
The aristocratic family’s mansion was broken in one by one.
Each aristocratic family was eradicated by the 500 armored horsemen.
Beiluo’s 500 armored horsemen, like a sharp knife, disturbed the entire capital city. They slaughtered every single aristocratic family.
Begs. Screams.
None of those were heard when Ning Zhao enumerated the crimes that those aristocratic families had committed.
They had done countless evil things. However…
Among those evil things, their biggest crime was that they wrote so many statutes to impeach Young Master Lu from Beiluo.
The capital city was covered in a rain of blood.
During the killing of the aristocratic families in the capital city committed by Beiluo’s 500 armored horsemen, the families—which had been active for a long time—finally experienced one thing.
It was the fear of being dominated by Young Master Lu.